The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has put a dent on various industries. But despite previous estimates, the PC industry has bounced back from a poor quarter as companies have largely shifted to work-from-home arrangements. As per the latest IDC report, worldwide PC shipments grew 11.2 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020.
Global PC shipments reached 72.3 million units during this period. HP leads the pack with a 25 percent market share, closely followed by Lenovo with a 24.1 percent share. They are followed by Dell Technologies (16.6 percent share), Apple (7.7 percent share), and Acer Group (6.7 percent). The laptop segment did particularly well due to people’s remote learning and working needs. But the analysts are skeptical about how long this growth will last.
Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager for IDC"s Mobile Device Trackers, said:
The strong demand driven by work-from-home as well as e-learning needs has surpassed previous expectations and has once again put the PC at the center of consumers" tech portfolio. What remains to be seen is if this demand and high level of usage continues during a recession and into the post-COVID world since budgets are shrinking while schools and workplaces reopen.
A new Gartner report has similarly portrayed a positive outlook for the PC industry. It claims that Q2, 2020 saw a total of 64.8 million units shipped – 2.8 percent increase from Q2 2019. The report claims that the top spot was shared by Lenovo and HP. Together they accounted for half of PC shipments in this period. They were followed by Dell, Apple, Acer Group, and ASUS.